


Polar Vortex

by galaxiebot



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2014-07-25
Packaged: 2018-02-10 08:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2017992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxiebot/pseuds/galaxiebot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat braves the cold in an attempt to return Eridan’s glasses only to lose them on his way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Polar Vortex

Karkat dredged up snow with his bare hands trying to remove as much as he could from the ground as fast as possible. He was bent over at the bottom of a small ravine digging through the snow and muttering to himself as water started to melt into his shoes. There was a cold wind blowing through the little path in the woods Karkat had been walking down before he dropped the case he’d been carrying.  


"This is what I get for texting while I walk." Karkat grumbled as he continued to disturb all the snow in the ravine. The case, wasn’t anything special, but he’d dropped it on his way to Eridan’s which was the whole point he was even going over there in the first place. Karkat continued to search getting a bit more frantic the longer it began to take.  


"Fuck, I lost it and his glasses, shit." Karkat muttered to himself as his hands began to ache from the cold. He looked around and quickly noticed how useless this attempt had bee from the start. There were no signs of where the case had fallen into the snow, and Karkat hadn’t seen it hit the ground after he dropped it. He slowly realized it was gone forever.  


"Kar?" Eridan asked. Karkat glanced up to the top of the ravine where Eridan was looking him over skeptically. He had his hands in the pockets of his coat, but he wore a pair of chunky glasses that were slightly different from the ones Karkat had just lost. "What are you doing down there?"  


"I, um," Karkat said. He looked down at his now raw hands and back at Eridan, " I dropped your glasses down here in their case while I was walking, but I don’t know where, so I was trying to dig them up." Eridan slid down into the ravine and walked up to Karkat quickly.  


"Are you crazy? You don’t have gloves on," Eridan said. He grabbed Karkat’s hands in his own and scoffed a bit before taking off his scarf so he could wrap it around Karkat’s red fingers.  


"I just, I lost your glasses," Karkat said.  


"Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you should let your hands fall off," Eridan said. He started pulling Karkat back up the ravine to get back on the path. They walked the rest of the way to Eridan’s house quietly as Karkat started to rethink all his plans. He’d wanted to be smooth and flawless, but he figured he’d always be a bit stupid even when he tried to plan ahead.  


Eridan pulled Karkat through the front door swiftly and sat Karkat on the couch. Then, Eirdan walked into the kitchen leaving Karkat to sit alone while Eridan made something warm for them to drink. Karkat rubbed the scarf against his hands a little thinking about how soft it was. It wasn’t long before Eridan came back with hot chocolate for them both.  


"You’ll have to unwrap your hands to hod this," he said. Karkat tentatively pulled the scarf of his hands and set it in his lap before taking the warm mug. His hands weren’t quite as red anymore, but they still ached from being so cold before.  


"Do you want to watch a movie or something? Since I’m not letting you back out into that cold anyway." Eridan sat next to him and sipped at his drink.  


"Might as well, I guess," Karkat said. He favored the idea of a distraction from his thoughts. The less he had to think about everything that was happening in his head the better. Eridan quickly picked out a sufficiently awful romantic movie from the guide as Karkat started to sip at his hot chocolate.  


"Hey Kar, why did you insist on coming over here despite it being so cold?" Eridan asked. Karkat was staring at the rim of his mug as Eridan spoke. It seemed like Karkat was trying not to look at him, but Eridan knew that could be for a multitude of reasons.  


"I just wanted to get it done today," Karkat said.  


"That kind of excuse makes it sound like you had other motives Kar," Eridan said. He chuckled as Karkat grimaced.  


"I didn’t have any other motives buttmunch." Karkat set his glass down hard so he could cross his arms. Eridan chuckled and scooted closer to Karkat so their legs were touching and he could get his lips near Karkat’s ear.  


"Are you so sure about that?" Eridan whispered trying to use the most sultry voice he could and was deeply satisfied when Karkat nearly jumped across the couch.  


"What the fuck Eridan!?" Karkat huffed his face flushed and burning as he pressed into the arm of the couch.  


"Don’t over react Kar. I was just messin’ with you," Eridan said. He sat back into the couch a little too satisfied with himself as Karkat rubbed his ear trying to shake off the feeling that was quickly moving to his groin.  


"Annoying grubsuck." Karkat grumbled again and crossed his arms as if to protect himself this time.  


"You wouldn’t be getting so flustered if I wasn’t right," Eridan said. Karkat’s face grew more red and his mouth contorted into a deep frown.  


"Shut up," he said. Eridan chuckled. It was pretty rare he got Karkat to the point of being so flustered that he couldn’t come up with good insults. He calmed down after a bit as he started to get more into the movie. Eridan watched Karkat slowly grow more comfortable again as he became fixated on the movie, As a test, Eridan scooted closer to Karkat and when he didn’t notice him slowly inched closer as the movie went on.  


Eridan, eventually, was nearly touching Karkat’s leg. Once he was there, Eridan sat content with himself that he’d manged to get as close as he did without Karkat noticing. Eridan didn’t want to be honest about wanting to be close to Karkat, so he figured pretending they’d been this close the whole time was a good idea. When the movie ended, Karkat did exactly what Eridan had been hoping. He sat back into the couch a bit only to turn and jump when he noticed Eridan.  


"Something wrong?" Eridan asked,  


"Y-you, you startled the shit out of me." Karkat pressed a hand into his chest. Eridan had the urge to hug him, but he knew he couldn’t get away with that.  


"I’m sorry, but it’s not like I moved," he said. Karkat blinked at him for a long moment.  


"Yes you fucking did. Don’t lie!" Karkat shoved Eridan over roughly and stood up. Eridan was instantly unhappy with his decision when he realized Karkat was no longer sitting next to him.  


"Sorry, I was just trying to kid around. Sit back down," Eridan said. Karkat softened a bit, but he didn’t sit down.  


"No, I should head home now," he said. there was a quiet moment where Eridan kicked himself out of regret and Karkat chewed on his lip trying to get himself to say what he’d actually met Eridan to say, "well, I’m going to leave now."  


"Yeah," Eridan said. He stood to walk Karkat to the door, "you really could stay for a bit longer its pretty cold out."  


"I’ll be fine," Karkat said. He pulled on his shoes as Eridan watched him.  


"Are you sure?" Eridan asked as Karkat opened the front door.  


"Eridan, I’ll be fine," He said. Eridan looked away from him bashfully as Karkat walked out the door.  


"Hey Kar," Eridan said as he followed Karkat out into the snow without shoes.  


"Are you nuts? What are you doing?" Karkat asked as Eridan quickly took a few strides towards him. Eridan quickly took Karkat’s hands in his and pulled him close enough so he could kiss him. When he pulled away, Karkat’s face was red and his eyes were wide. His feet were quickly getting wet and numb, so he let go of Karkat’s hands so he could start walking back towards the house.  


"Thanks for trying to bring my glasses back," Eridan said. He shut the door behind him quickly and melted against it. He shifted to watch Karkat through the narrow window next to the door. Karkat didn’t move for a long while, but eventually he seemed to decide standing in the cold wasn’t such a good idea. He turned and started down the driveway glancing back at the house a few times, but he didn’t seem to notice Eridan peering out of the window.


End file.
